No Excuse Left

In the fossil fuel-based energy versus modern clean energy debate I often hear two counter arguments. One is “It will be too expensive.” and the other is, “What about the Chinese?”

Even though we know failing to repair the climate today will cost our kids 4 to 6 times the current cost of intervention, many people consider it too expensive to implement adaptation and mitigation measures.

The second counter argument is, “Are China and India doing their share?” This reasoning brings to mind the protests I made to my dad when I was a kid. “But why should I have to do that? Johnny doesn’t have to.” In other words, when doing something irresponsible, point out someone else who is worse.

If there was any merit in either of these arguments, they are now meaningless beyond redemption. Dr Drew Schindell, Professor of Environmental Science at Duke University, with colleagues at NASA have evaluated the fossil fuel health penalties and enormous costs we endure today by burning coal, oil and gas. The penalties are 2Xs the costs previously estimated. These DO NOT include the costs of climate disintegration but only the detrimental health effects from fossil fuel pollution. The resulting health ailments factored in include asthma, heart disease, lung cancer and other ailments.

Fossil fuel pollution in our air and water include mercury, sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, soot and other particulate matter, heavy metals, carbonic acid, coal ash, and carbon monoxide.

The cost of doing nothing is staggering. Shindell testified before congress on 5AUG2020, “Over the next 50 years, keeping to the 2°C pathway* would prevent roughly 4.5 million premature deaths, about 3.5 million hospitalizations and emergency room visits, and approximately 300 million lost workdays in the US.” The estimated savings by cleaning up is $700 billion a year in avoided health and labor costs.

The economic drag on our pocketbooks by sticking with fossil fuel production is enormous. We sacrifice billions of our hard-earned tax dollars to subsidies for the fossil fuel industry. This means we have less money in our pockets and our government has less money for everything else we need.

Our United States healthcare costs are second to none and those costs are exacerbated by fossil fuel pollutants.

Even though we people in the north country have cleaner air and water than most Americans, healthcare insurance policy premiums are the same for us as they are for unfortunate Americans who live downwind of a coal power plant, oil refinery, or a busy freeway. We pay a penalty for our dirty power system.

The new health care economic data is in. It has always been sobering but now it calls on us to act. The dollars saved by acting now are greater than the estimated cost to modernize the grid, implement energy efficiency, and transition to clean energy.

These new economic figures do not include the avoidable pain and suffering family members experience as their youngest struggle to breath, or worse yet, if they must watch a loved one needlessly die.

So, what about the incredibly dirty power plants of China and India? Yes, if they continue to increase their use of coal **, spewing more CO2 into the air, the whole world will suffer from a deteriorating climate.

Lucky for us, most of the traditional pollutants emitted by Chinese and Indian coal plants will only kill Chinese and Indians. These pollutants largely precipitate out prior to reaching us. It is a tragedy their citizens must die in large numbers because they do not properly regulate themselves. By some estimates the lives saved in China by shutting down their economy to fight COVID-19, which dramatically reduced pollution, were more than all the lives lost to the virus during the same period! This self-inflicted carnage is not lost on all the Chinese and Indians. Climate activist protests have begun.

For us in the US the cost benefit analysis is in. The United States with or without any other country joining us and without factoring in climate change damages will experience better health and save money if we make the clean energy transition. We are looking at a win-win deal.

We will save money, improve our health, and breath a lot easier.

There are no excuses.

*The two-degree pathway are the steps we must achieve to hold the average temperature rise of the planet within tolerable limits. For details, search “Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change”.

**While the Chinese are irresponsibly building new coal plants they are also investing heavily in solar and wind power. It would be a shame if we did not pursue clean energy technology and beat them to the marketplace.

For further research:

https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2020/8/12/21361498/climate-change-air-pollution-us-india-china-deaths

https://www.americangeosciences.org/geoscience-currents/air-quality-impacts-oil-and-gas

https://www.gem.wiki/Air_pollution_from_coal-fired_power_plants

https://oversight.house.gov/news/press-releases/oversight-committee-and-top-experts-examine-new-data-on-the-health-and-economic

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